Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

"Let's try this again. Are you Annie O'Sullivan from Clayton Falls?"
"Yes. Am I on Vancouver Islands?"
"You don't know?"
"That's why I'm asking."


Title: Still Missing
Author:
Chevy Stevens
ISBN: 9780312595678
Publisher: St. Martins Press/2010
Pages: 352


I read Still Missing right after reading
Stolen by Lucy Christopher. The similarity in both the books is the Kidnapping. Both are scary too, for obvious reasons. And blew my mind completely.


In Still Missing Annie O’Sullivan, a 32-year-old realtor, is narratinge to her psychiatrist, about her year of captivity, her thoughts, her harrowing experiences, her insights too.

Annie O’Sullivan is a good realtor, living in Vancouver Island, has made a name for herself, has a nice boyfriend, and a good friend Christina, and of course her mother, Lorraine, who is not very close to Annie but seems to love her, nonetheless. On a slow open house day, when a visitor comes Annie is happy to show him the house not knowing her world is gong to change forever.

She is kidnapped by that stranger and taken into a remote mountain cabin, somewhere near Lake Superior, where each of her moments is regulated by the psychopath, whom Annie addresses as The Freak. He rapes her every night and does not let go of her out of his sight even for a second. And when he does leave to go out, he locks her up, with no food. The Freak thinks he is a normal human being living in a perfect world untouched, uncorrupted by outside forces. Annie is forced to do as he wishes and Annie does all this to survive. Then she escapes...

So her sessions with the psychiatrist start, where she narrates each second of what she went through. Even after her escape no one knows who is that psychopath. Annie lives in constant fear and sleeps in a closet at night. She tries to eat when she wants, do whatever she wishes to, even pee at any time. But she can't. The Freak had a set time for everything and had forced Annie to follow them, this also included four toilets breaks only at designated times.

Annie is tough, a survivor, at times a savage, yet she is vulnerable, terrified and scarred for life. For all her experiences, we see Annie going through life with dignity, her head held high. This is what endears her to us. We are all the way with Annie. Even after her escape, she is still missing. And she has to find herself again.

The police is searching for The Freak's identity and when they do identify him, it does not make sense why he kidnapped her. When the truth is revealed, we are as devastated as Annie. Chevy Stevens has created a great character in Annie and of course, The Freak. It is one of those start to finish books.

As I mentioned before, Stolen too is a book worth checking out. It too is story of a kidnapped girl, told in narrative letter by her to her captor. Both books are different, yet similar.

36 comments:

pussreboots said...

Interesting teaser. Enjoy your book. Mine's from Raider's Ransom by Emily Diamand.

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

That's a good teaser...I loved that book! Enjoy, and thanks for visiting my blog.

Shelley Munro said...

Good teaser. It sounds a bit creepy for me to read. :)

Here’s My Teaser

Veens said...

Wow, I would definitely love to read this book :)

Deepali said...

oh dear, this is too real and creepy for me :(
What a traumatic story..
My teaser today - Teaser Tuesday #8 Sweep Series 12- Eclipse

Kristin said...

Good teaser.

Here's mine.

Jenny Q said...

I think I've been putting this book off because I know it's going to scare the crap out of me. But everyone who has read it raves about it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Jessica ( frellathon ) said...

It sounds really good heard about it a little while back loved the sound of it so I requested it from the library. Looking forward to this read

CMash said...

I thought this was a great debut novel...really enjoyed it.
CMash

Anne R. said...

LOL @ the teaser XD that was really interesting!

Tea said...

I have this book too. Love your Tues. Teaser. Can't wait to read it.

http://readwithtea.blogspot.com/2010/08/teaser-tuesdays.html

Marg said...

Why doesn't she know where she is? and how has she made it to a phone or anything.

My teaser is The King of Attolia - a book I am very excited about reading this week!

JoAnn said...

This sounds like a good one! Have seen it around quite a bit lately.

Carrie at In the Hammock Blog said...

lots of back and forth!! great teaser!

Here's my teaser!!

Alayne said...

Nice teaser. I liked this book. My teaser is up at The Crowded Leaf.

Darlyn said...

Wow..I've read a few good reviews on this one last few weeks. Great review and love the teaser =)

jlshall said...

Excellent review! I've seen this one around, but I'm thinking it might be a little too intense for me.

Lillie (AliseOnLife) said...

Very interesting teaser. By the sounds of this novel, it must be very powerful.

kayerj said...

This book sounds like a gripping read, nice teaser and review. Thanks for stopping by.

Kathy Martin said...

This sounds like it would be very interesting. My teaser is from Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel. Happy reading!

Book Sake said...

This one is on my TBR list, I hope you are enjoying it, it looks great.

Our teaser is at BookSake.

Darlene said...

Good teaser. I won this book and can't wait to get to it!

fredamans said...

I am reading this one too and also have for my teaser.

Harvee said...

Sounds like two good books. Nice teaser. Here's mine.

Unknown said...

sex slavery and psychopathic rapist. sounds mad and intreguing. thanks for sharing and thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm your newest follower now!! have a great day!! =)

Karen Russell said...

Wow, very compelling teaser! Thanks for visiting my blog, too.

Natasha said...

Hehe cute teaser! :)

Here's mine, if your interested:
http://bookmarkyourthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/08/teaser-tuesday8_17.html

Nise' said...

I am still on the fence about this book.

Stephen said...

Sounds disturbing; how long was she with him?

Anonymous said...

I read this and LOVED it!!! Still have to post my review on it though.

Gwendolyn B. said...

This book is in my TBR. Your quote reminds me that today a client called and asked me today's date. That's all. Just the date. He said thank you and hung up. Granted, he is in his 80's, but sometimes you really have to check these things with someone else!

Here's my TT: http://aseaofbooks.blogspot.com/2010/08/teaser-tuesdays-queens-pawn-by-christy.html

Aleksandra said...

Great teaser :) I've seen this one around & sounds really good!

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

I'm such a wimp when it comes to scary books ... I know I can put it down anytime, but I want to keep reading to learn what happens. I'll have to read this one in daylight! :)

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Oh wow this sounds so intense.

Teddyree said...

Still Missing and Stolen were two of my favourite reads, traumatic but absolutely compelling. Loved them both!

Danielle said...

I recently read this book in three days! I could not put it down. Excellent. Probably the best book I read this year.